RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Team Orange lost game one of the Orange and Gray World Series 8-4 before responding with a blowout victory in game two 10-1 and a 7-5 dramatic game three triumph.
 
Game One
 
Junior Erick Martinez led Team Gray offensively by going 3-for-4 with three RBI, a triple, and a double while seniors Tyler Valdez and Sebastian Mejia and junior Aaron Sanchez combined to pitch 3.0 shutout innings.
 
Freshman Rudy Gonzalez led the charge for Orange by going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a double while senior Alex Havlicek struck out two in 2.0 shutout innings to set the tone early.
 
Orange got off to a blazing start as junior Hank Warren made a leaping grab in front of the fans in right field to steal an extra base hit from Gray, and then in the bottom of the first, the freshmen shined as Easton Moomau brought home a runner with a sacrifice fly and Gonzalez had a two-RBI double that landed on the warning track in left field. Orange's dugout was fired up as the runners crossed home to give them an early 3-0 advantage.
 
Martinez sparked some two-out magic in the third as he roped a line drive to left field for a double that brought home freshman Julius Ramirez for Gray's first run of the day.
 
In the bottom of the third, Martinez showed off his fielding skills by catching a line drive at second and making a heads-up play to throw out a runner at first.
 
Janner and Ramirez drew back-to-back walks to lead off the top of the fifth for Gray. A dribbler to the pitcher allowed the runners to advance to second and third. Martinez followed with a ground ball to second to bring home Janner. Graduate Student CJ Valdez then hit a line drive single to left to tie the game at 3.
 
With the bases loaded and two outs, Ramirez hit a two-RBI single to make it a 5-3 game in favor of Gray. Freshman Viggo Lopez brought home two more runs on a ground ball on a single to center. Martinez brought home Lopez on a hard-hit triple to deep right field putting an exclamation point on a 5-run inning to give Gray an 8-3 advantage heading into the final frame.
 
Junior Isaac Lopez crushed a leadoff solo home run that flew over the left field wall. Junior Jack Lopez bounced back by inducing three ground outs to end the six-inning game.
 
Game Two
 
Issac Lopez led Orange offensively by going 2-for-4 with two RBI, Moomau went 2-for-2 with two walks and one RBI. Freshman Orlando Samaniego went 1-for-3 with a 2-RBI double and one walk and senior Marc Schavone went 2-for-2 with two walks. Senior Angelo Cabral struck out two in 2.0 scoreless innings and senior Zach Tjelmeland struck out three in 2.0 scoreless innings.
 
Freshman Matt Mendez hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Gray's only run of the game.
 
Game Three
 
Samaniego led the team with three RBI and junior Tervell Johnson walked twice with the bases loaded for two RBI.
 
Gray took an early 2-0 lead when junior Steven Lancia hit a home run just left of the batters' eye in center in the top of the first.
 
With one out in the top of the second, Ramirez hit a fly ball to deep center field that rolled to the wall, giving him enough time to slide into third with a triple. A single from Viggo Lopez and a hard-hit double into left-center from Mendez gave Gray a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the second.
 
With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the second, a walk by Johnson, a sacrifice fly from Samaniego, and a walk by Moomau cut Orange's deficit to one.
 
With a runner on second in the top of the fifth, Ramirez ripped a single into left field to push the lead to 5-3 for Gray.
 
With two outs in the bottom of the inning, however, Warren hit a slicing line drive single to right-center to bring home a run. Senior Adrian Torres drew a walk to load the bases. Johnson followed with a game-tying walk. Samaniego hit a single that dropped in left field and scored two more runs to give Orange their first lead of the game.
 
In the final frame, junior Bobby Loya went three up, three down to end the game and win the series for Orange.

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